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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Reflections on My First Month of Medical School!

Right before my first standardized patient encounter today

I looked at the calendar today and just had to write a post.
Today marks one month of being a medical student, and what a month it has been!
It literally feels like I’ve been in medical school for years (but in a good
way), and I am absolutely amazed at the amount of material we have covered so
far. Just today, I held an actual human brain in my hands, learned how to do a
complete pulmonary and cardiac exam, and I even had a chance to examine my
first standardized patient in a mock primary care skills exam. I completely
forgot to shake my patient’s hand and I was shaking because I was so nervous,
but for my first time, I wasn’t that bad, LOL.

In the past month alone, I have accumulated TWO 2-inch
binders full of notes, covered the entire back, thorax, head and neck anatomy,
learned how to read and analyze MR and CT images, and learned how to do various
osteopathic manipulation techniques. This is in addition to having classes in
embryology, physiology, histology, and epidemiology, and it really has been a
complete blur. The course load is definitely no joke, but I slowly feel like I’m
starting to get used to it. I’ve also had some really cool and unique experiences like
holding an actual fetus, seeing the effects of cigarettes on actual lungs, and
I am now convinced that I can diagnose a person with Horner’s Syndrome or
somatic dysfunction. Just don’t ask me about anything else, because that’s all
I know for now, LOL! I could go on and on about what I have learned and
experienced in the past month, but to make a long story short, I love
everything about the past month! I can definitely see a little growth, a lot of
adaptation, and new opportunity every day to learn something new about myself and the human body.

I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t had days where I have
been completely stressed out, depressed, and exhausted beyond belief, but every
day something happens that reminds me of the fact that I am where I need to be,
and where I want to be. I think I might be a slight masochist, because I really
do love everything that I’m doing right now, and no matter how hard it gets at
times, I always seem to want more. Let’s just hope it stays that way!

5 comments:

I have have been following your story for quite some time now. I'm so excited for you. I hope to be in your shoes someday. I started blogging myself , I find it to be really therapeutic. It seems to give my past mistakes purpose, would love if you could check it out : keepcalmnontrad.blogspot.comAlso I have finished filling out secondaries (not very optimistic but i've been praying) just waiting to hear back, i'm so anxious. :(

I appreciate you reading my blog, and I'm going to add your blog to my reading list. It seems I never have time for leisure reading nowadays, but I will definitely check it out when I get some free time. Also, keep the optimism up! All it takes is one acceptance and it's a marathon, not a race. I have faith you'll get in, and you should too :-)